Nice ta meetcha, Sarah

Two weeks ago, I’d never heard of Sarah Palin. Now I know more about her than I know about many of my friends. More than I want to know. But not as much as the secular media would like me to know.

I imagine that some may argue that the media is just trying to do their job. I won’t even go there. The problem I have with the media involvement in this election is that personal issues get dug up and once they’re dug up, they become either terms of indictment or terms of endearment depending on which side is manipulating which term.

For example, consider the issue of Sarah Palin’s pregnant daugther. Mrs. Palin’s opponents use that information to convince voters that she’s an incapable mother, a hypocrite, a God-knows-what. In turn, Mrs. Palin and her supporters use that information to garner empathy, familiarity, and commaraderie. “Our family has seen its struggles, too,” she assured her audience during her speech at the Republican National Convention.

I don’t want to get into the pregnant daughter issue – other media have done a crack-shot job at that already. I’m questioning the way election campaigns are run these days. When are we going to spend our time focusing on the real issues instead of manufacturing non-issues?